


Follow You Down

by Skyshadow3246, Wolfloner



Series: Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces [9]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Anniversary, Blood, Celebrations, Declarations Of Love, Dom Loki (Marvel), Dom Tony Stark, Dom/sub, Dom/sub Undertones, Fluff and Angst, FrostIron - Freeform, Healthy Relationships, Light BDSM, M/M, Needle play, Nipple Piercings, Nipple Play, Piercing, Praise Kink, Risk Aware Consensual Kink, Snowballing, Sounding, SpideyPool Friendship, Stucky if you squint, Sub Loki (Marvel), Sub Tony Stark, little bit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-05-28 17:43:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15054440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyshadow3246/pseuds/Skyshadow3246, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfloner/pseuds/Wolfloner
Summary: Nipple piercings and sounding galore.Chapter 1: In which Tony decides to give the whole "dom thing" another go.Chapter 2: More piercings. Many conversations. A small celebration of time spent together.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Real quick, want to give a shoutout to my buddy K, who doesn't have an Ao3 account, but without whom this series wouldn't exist. Or at least it wouldn't be nearly as good. She catches all the things and makes me writing less awful. <3
> 
> This one was fun for me to write, I hope others enjoy my weird kinks. There's more to come.
> 
> As per usual, any and all mistakes are mine. If you see anything that needs fixing, or anything that needs a tag or warning, let me know so I can fix it.

_ Did you see the sky? _

_ I think it means that we've been lost _

_ Maybe one last time is all we need _

_ I can't really help it _

_ If my tongue's all tied in knots _

_ Jumping off a bridge is just the farthest _

_ That I've ever been _

_ \-- _ Gin Blossoms _ , Follow You Down _

  
  


“JARVIS, how long do you keep your surveillance recordings for?”

 

“If nothing of interest is recorded then I delete the audio and video files every 30 minutes.”

 

Loki grinned from his perch on one of the tables in Tony’s workshop. “Can you keep a recording of this?”

 

“Certainly, Loki. If Mr. Stark doesn’t have any complaints?”

 

“Why do you want a recording of this? You have an eidetic memory.”

 

“Because, unlike JARVIS, I can see this from just the one angle.”

 

Tony rolled his eyes. “Fine, whatever. Keep a recording, JARVIS.” He paused. “Encrypt it so only Loki and I can look at it, though.”

 

“Certainly, Sir.”

 

Tony set a tray down with the small assortment of tools he was about to need. He watched Loki’s curious expression as he looked over them. “What  _ is  _ all this, Stark?”

 

“You said I could pierce your nipples. These,” he swept his hand over the tray, “are what I need to do that.  _ Safely _ .”

 

Loki reached out to pick something up, but Tony batted his hand away. “Why do you insist on touching everything? This stuff’s sterile. I need it to stay that way.” Tony knew he was being a bit of a hypocrite. But safety was important. Sue him.

 

Loki let out a sigh but held his hands in his lap. “You know I can’t actually get an infection from something like this, right? That this’ll be healed within two days?”

 

“If we’re doing this, we’re doing it right.” Tony stated, unwilling to waver on this. 

 

But Loki just smiled and said, “Alright.”

 

“Shirt.” 

 

Honestly, Tony was slightly surprised when Loki actually started unbuttoning his shirt and shrugging it off. “What? You always complain about me not taking off my clothes “like a normal person”. And since you’re in charge, I thought I could at least do as you ask.”

 

Tony reached up pulled Loki down by the back of the neck, pressing a hard kiss to his lips. He pulled back, grinning. He hesitated only a moment before saying, “Góðr.” The way Loki’s eyes lit up let him know he hadn’t been completely off. “Sit up straight, and hold still,” he commanded while pulling a pair of gloves.

 

Loki didn’t complain about the gloves, or the alcohol wipes that Tony ran across his chest, but he did balk at the bright purple marker. “What  _ is _ that?”

 

“It’s a skin marker. Single use. So I can mark where we want the piercings to be.”

 

Loki gave it a considering look before doing his best to sit up straighter. He drummed his fingers against the table as Tony worked, carefully marking the intended trajectory of the needle on each nipple. “Nervous?” 

 

The god hesitated, “Marginally,” he admitted after a moment.

 

Tony tossed the used marker into the trash can. “We can stop.”

 

Loki shook his head before remembering to hold still. “No. I want to do this. And I’m not nervous about the piercing,” he clarified. “I’m nervous about--” He stopped. Tony stood patiently, waiting for him to piece his thoughts together. “Nevermind. I’ll try to explain later?”

 

Tony frowned, not loving that one bit. “Alright,” he said slowly. “If that’s how you want to do this.” Tony opened the sterile packaging around the forceps and needles before closing the forceps around Loki’s left nipple. “Last chance to back out.”

 

Loki huffed a small laugh. “Not a chance.” Tony caught Loki’s eyes flitting from the needle to his face. “Not going to offer me any platitudes about how I’ll only feel a slight pressure?”

 

Tony snorted, “Sure, if you want me to lie to you. I mean, you will feel some slight pressure. Followed immediately by strong pressure. Followed by pain when I stick a 14 gauge needle through your body.” While Loki was definitely holding still, he was also far too tense for Tony’s liking. “Deep breath, Loki.” He waited a moment. “Don’t just hold your breath. In and out.” 

 

Loki laughed as he exhaled. Tony coached him through several deep breaths, and on the fourth exhalation he slid the needle through. Loki let out an aborted swear at the sensation.

 

“You ok?” He asked, voice full of concern.

 

“Fine.” Loki had closed his eyes and taken several more deep breaths. 

 

“Good. Next part will probably feel weird, but shouldn’t really hurt. Or, it shouldn’t hurt  _ more _ , at least.” Once Loki nodded Tony pressed the end of the barbell flush with the needle, threading both through, ending by capping the barbell. “Ta da. One down.”

 

“Fuck.” But Loki was chuckling, so he was probably alright.

 

Tony let out a frustrated noise when Loki reached up to touch the barbell and he had to grab his wrist and force it back down to his lap. “Quit trying to touch everything.”

 

He was ready for Loki to argue, or to act indignant, or to complain. What he hadn’t been ready for a the quiet, “Sorry, Anthony.” It wasn’t like Loki didn’t call him that occasionally. But he only did it when there was something  _ serious _ going on. 

 

Tony swallowed feeling slightly off-kilter. “D’you want to continue?”

 

Loki smirked at him. “I hate the idea of being asymmetrical.” 

 

Loki was fine. If he was still capable of smirking and teasing him, he was  _ fine _ . So Tony repeated the process, once again being certain that Loki was actually breathing properly as he pierced his right nipple. Loki didn’t swear the second time.

 

“All done.” Tony said brightly as he snapped off the gloves, letting them shoot into the trash can. 

 

“Like Hel we are.” Loki reached forward, grabbing Tony’s jeans by the belt loops and dragging him to the edge of the table. Tony grinned into the kiss, letting Loki hold him there for a moment. 

 

“So you  _ did _ enjoy that?” Tony asked, shifting to press his hip against Loki’s groin, feeling the beginnings of an erection pressing against him.

 

“Very much,” Loki confirmed. “Would like to continue enjoying things.”

 

“What did you have in mind?”

 

Loki rested his forehead against Tony’s. “Remember a few days ago, how you said you weren’t averse to impact play?”

 

That wasn’t where Tony had expected him to go but he was on board. “Yeah.”

 

“How are you with a whip?”

 

Tony blinked. Oh. Loki wanted  _ him _ to… Okay. Yeah. Sure. He could do that. Probably. He wanted to say yes. He knew Loki wanted him to say yes. He opened his mouth to say  _ yes _ . Except that when he tried to picture it, all he saw was Monaco and Vanko and a mess of armored drones and-- “Not great,” he finally got out, pretty sure that Loki could hear him over the white noise that filled his ears. He closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to will away as many of those thoughts as he could. “I think I uh, lied. Before. On accident. I don’t think I used to have preferences. I think I do now. I don’t want...I can’t…” 

 

“Breathe, Tony.” Loki said quietly, rubbing his hands up and down Tony’s arms. “If you aren’t comfortable with it, then you aren’t. That’s fine.”

 

Tony frowned, pretty sure he was hearing his own words echoed back at him. “I don’t want to hurt you.” Tony admitted. “I know you’re a god, and you’re all durable and shit, but I don’t...I think I used to enjoy it. But that was--”  _ before Afghanistan _ “--not anymore.”

 

“I do understand, Stark.” Loki had pulled him closer, and was just hugging him. “What about other things?” He offered. “Non-painful things.”

 

Tony wrapped his arms around Loki, hugging him back. “I don’t know. Like what?”

 

“You could gag me?”

 

Tony pulled back enough to look Loki in the eye. “You would fucking  _ hate _ that.”

 

Loki nodded. “Probably. But I find seeing you so… uncomfortable. I hate that more. You used to enjoy doing all sorts of interesting things to me, and then suddenly...you didn’t.”

 

“It wasn’t exactly suddenly,” Tony pointed out, “I don’t think either of us has fond memories of that foray into e-stim.”

 

“No. But that’s why we’re talking about things. And planning them out.” Tony supposed he probably still looked thoroughly uncertain, so Loki continued, “You know when you’re down here working on a project, and the rest of the world falls away?” Tony nodded, he knew. He was really good at getting hyper-focused on things and completely ignoring everything else around him. That had been a not-small factor in his and Pepper’s separation. “You get this look on your face when you’re working. And having you look at me with that face?”

 

“I get it.” Tony was smiling, it was hard not to. “Fine. Non-pain thing. What do you want to try?”

 

Loki let out a thoughtful hum. “You seemed very excited when I mentioned that I’d never tried sounding before.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Besides, you seem to enjoy sticking bits of metal into me.”

 

Tony snorted. “Jesus Christ,” he laughed, shaking his head. “Let me grab a few things from down here, and I’ll meet you in the bedroom?”

 

“Or, hear me out, we could do it down here.”

 

“That entire wall is glass.” Tony gestured towards the entrance. “Anyone could fucking walk down here.”

 

Loki shrugged. “Maybe, but no one actually does. Well, Banner. But he’d probably just turn around and never speak of it to anyone.”

 

Tony rolled his eyes, changing tactics. “I’m not sounding you in my workshop.” Tony paused. “Wait. I don’t even own any sounds.”

 

Loki waved off the comment. “I took care of that.”

 

“ _ When _ ?”

 

“I procured some yesterday.”

 

“Procured...Loki, did you  _ steal _ them?”

 

Loki looked amused. “I procured them. Don’t worry about it. And, knowing how anal-retentive you were going to be about this, I also got some weird medical-grade lube.”

 

Tony would be lying if he said he didn’t appreciate Loki’s willingness to humor him. “Alright. I’ll worry about it later. Bedroom?”

 

Loki grinned and grabbed Tony’s wrist. The next moment they were...nowhere. Tony was pretty sure he could see--could definitely see Loki in front of him--but everything else was black. It was the same weightless, stimuli-less feeling he’d felt the last time Loki had dragged him through the...what had he called it?  _ Realm-between-realms _ ? It only lasted an instant before they were both in their bedroom; Loki sitting on the edge of the bed, with Tony standing in front of him.

 

After taking a moment to reorient himself, Tony squeaked out, “That works.”

 

Tony took a step back, pulling away from Loki’s grip. “So, where are these sounds that you _ procured _ ?”

 

Loki waved off towards the dresser. “Over there.”

 

Tony made a small shooing motion. “Take off your pants. Lay down on the bed. Or prop yourself up on the pillows. Get comfortable. You’re going to be holding still for a little while.” Tony strode over to the dresser, not watching but listening as Loki did as he’d been told. He found the black leather case and surgical lube that had definitely not been there this morning. He dug the packets of alcohol wipes that he’d grabbed from downstairs out of his pockets so that he could hold everything in nice neat pile.

 

When he turned back to the bed, he saw that Loki had  _ mostly _ done as he had asked. He was naked and had crawled up to the head of the bed but was sitting straight up and watching Tony like a hawk. “You alright?”

 

Loki nodded. “Great. Green.” He paused. “Slightly anxious, but in a good way.”

 

Tony set his pile down on the bed before disrobing himself. “We’ll start out slow,” he promised as he joined Loki on the bed, pushing him down against the pillows. “And gentle,” he continued, pressing kisses against Loki’s mouth, his cheeks, his throat. He let his teeth scrape against his collarbone as he worked his way down, pointed avoiding Loki’s nipples as he kissed down the center of his chest instead. 

 

Once he had kissed his way down Loki’s body, he nestled comfortably between his legs and reached over for the case and unzipped it. He tilted it so Loki could also see the 12 long slightly curved sounds. “Quite the set you found, here. Looks like, what, 3mm to 14mm? Someone’s ambitious. What are you planning to do with a 14mm sound, Loki?”

 

Loki grinned at him, “I figured it’d be going in one of us.”

 

Tony ran a finger along the handle of the 14mm sound, letting himself picture that for a moment. He tucked those thoughts away for later. If Loki was going to keep saying shit like that, he’d need to work on his compartmentalization. 

 

Tony opened one of the alcohol wipes and ran it over the 4mm sound he’d pulled free from the case. He then opened the tube of lube and applied a generous amount to the sound. “Loki, what’s your safeword?”

 

“Green is...keep going. Everything is fine. Yellow if I need a moment, or if something isn’t right, or too much. Red if I need the scene to stop,” Loki explained dutifully.

 

Tony grinned, “Look at you, doing what I ask for once.”

 

Loki looked slightly startled, his eyes darting to the side before letting out a huff. “That's the idea, right? Doing what you say and all that?”

 

“It is. Thank you.” He positioned the tip of the sound to the slit of Loki’s cock. “Ready?”

 

Loki was staring at the long piece of metal, a look of  _ something _ crossed his face, but it was gone before Tony could define it. “As I’ll ever be.”

 

With that ringing endorsement, Tony started the guide the sound down, letting gravity do the work. Once the sound came to a stop, he looked up to check on Loki’s expression. His eyes were wide and his lips were slightly parted. “You alright, Loki? Does it hurt?”

 

“No.” Loki said with a conviction that didn’t quite match his expression. “Feels weird. Good weird.” He paused. “It burns a little? Maybe? It’s mostly just...intense.”

 

Tony let out a hum. “Keep going. Tell me what it feels like.”

 

“Like I have a metal rod in my dick.” Loki snorted. “I can’t really think of anything to compare it to.” Tony grinned at him before slowly pulling the sound back out, barely an inch, before letting it drop back into place. “Fuck. Yes, ok. Definitely good weird.” Tony kept his focus on what he was doing, but regularly looked up so he could watch Loki slowly relax as he slowly fucked him with the sound.

 

“So,” he started quietly, “from here we have a few options.”

 

“Mmm.”

 

“I can just keep doing this.” Loki let out a contented noise, which Tony assumed meant that he would be fine with that. “Or, we could go a bit deeper. I can touch your prostate pretty directly like this. But you’d need to hold  _ very _ still for that.”

 

Loki opened his eyes again to look at him. “That’s two. Not a few.”

 

“Or,” Tony continued, “we could go up a size. Let you feel that nice burn as I stretch your cock open.” 

 

Loki closed his eyes and settled back in. “Whatever you want.”

 

“I want you to make a choice.”

 

At Loki’s hesitation, Tony stopped moving, holding the sound halfway out of his dick. After a moment Loki realized he wasn’t getting away with not saying anything, “Fuck my prostate with a bigger one.”

 

Tony pulled the sound the rest of the way out and set it aside, away from the clean sounds. “That one was 4mm. This next one is 6.”

 

“Bit of a jump.” Loki muttered as Tony lubed up the new sound.

 

“You’ll handle it.” Tony pressed the new sound into Loki, gently coaxing it down when gravity wasn’t quite enough. He stopped when a whimper escaped Loki. “Loki?”

 

“Hurts. Don’t stop, I’m fine.”

 

Taking Loki at his word, Tony resumed guiding the sound into him. “You’re doing so well, Loki,” he murmured. “Taking this sound. Holding still for me, and letting me just split your cock open.” Not his best phrasing, but Loki’s soft groan let him know he didn’t mind. “Here’s where we were before.” He held the sound still, where he had stopped the previous one. Without waiting for any acknowledgment from Loki, he pulled the sound out a little bit, before letting it drop back in, going slightly deeper. 

 

He repeated this a few times, slowly fucking Loki open with the sound. “You’re going to hold very still, now.” Loki shuddered and let out a high pitched keen as Tony pressed the sound against his prostate. “Fucking incredible, you know that?” He gently rocked the sound back and forth.

 

“Fuuuck,” Loki whined, his fingers digging into the sheets under him. “Please don’t stop.”

 

“Never.” Tony promised. With his free hand he reached between Loki’s legs and pressed against his taint, feeling the sound inside him.

 

“Fy faen! Fuck!” Loki was openly panting now, foreign swearing (probably) interjecting into the stream of moans and whines. It was fucking music to his ears. “Too much. I’m--” Loki was cut off by the full-body shudder that went through him. But Tony got the hint, pulling the sound free and setting it next to the other one. He ran his hand over the head of Loki’s dick, gathering the lube and precum that finally had an avenue of escape before jerking him off to orgasm.

 

After Loki’s gorgeous display Tony barely had to touch himself before he too was cumming, his cum mixing with Loki’s. He pulled himself up so he could collapse on top of the god.

 

“Ow. Fuck. Arc Reactor on my nipple. Move, Stark.” Tony laughed as he rolled off of him. 

 

“Sorry.” Honestly, he was only mostly sorry. “You ok?”

 

Loki sat up to get a better look at his chest. “Fucking bleeding now.” He complained.

 

Tony decided to take the opportunity and leaned over, running his tongue over the injured nipple, tasting Loki’s blood. Which, yeah, tasted like blood. His lack of enthusiasm for it must have shown on his face, because Loki laughed at him.

 

“Don’t share my proclivity, Tony?”

 

Tony scraped his tongue against his teeth, trying to get rid of the taste. “Sure don’t.” 

 

Loki just laughed harder. He ran a finger across his stomach, gathering a bit of their mixed orgasm, and held his finger out to Tony.

 

“That’s gross, Loki.”

 

Loki quirked an eyebrow at him, “You don’t usually complain about the taste of my seed.”

 

Tony wrinkled his nose at him. “There’s a difference between swallowing during a blowjob and... _ that _ .” He let out a distressed noise when Loki sucked his finger into his mouth, and then just  _ looked at him _ . “No. Don’t you fucking dare. Don’t you--” Loki muffled his complains by pinning him to the bed and kissing him, forcing the mixture into his mouth with his tongue. As soon as Loki let him up, Tony scrambled off the bed and into the bathroom so he could spit and wash his mouth out. “Get in here and take a shower you weird fuck.” He yelled back into the room. 

 

Loki was still laughing at him when he popped into existence in the shower a few feet away. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OTL Sorry this took so long. It's been a weird week. Life stuff. Then a small injury. Then other life stuff. I'm sure y'all can relate. <3

_ I know we're headed somewhere. _

_ I can see how far we've come. _

_ But still I can't remember anything. _

_ Let's not do the wrong thing, _

_ And I'll swear it might be fun. _

_ It's a long way down _

_ When all the knots we've tied have come undone. _

\--Gin Blossoms,  _ Follow You Down _

  
  


“Ten minutes Loki. Give me ten fucking minutes.”

 

“Fine.” Loki snarled, slamming the door in Tony’s face. It was apparently harder than he’d intended to shut it, though, given by the quiet, “Sorry,” Tony heard afterwards.

 

But fuck. Loki was pissed, at him, he was pretty sure. Tony was pissed in general. Tony was actually more pissed at himself than at the infuriating paparazzi that had made an attempt at cornering the two of them in Central Park. Because fuck them for wanting to enjoy the weather. Or being outside. Or being together. Fuck them for thinking for one instant that either of them were capable of any sense of anonymity. Especially in Goddamn New York City. 

 

Why did it bother him, though? He’d had his name run through the mud enough times that it shouldn’t even phase him anymore. And Loki was a criminal, so it wasn’t like public opinion on either of them was likely to be all that high anyway. Tony was pretty sure the press and the tabloids would have more interesting, or at least more important, things to report on than who he spent his free time with. 

 

And yet, here he was, pissed off about it. It wasn’t like he’d been hiding anything, it was just nobody's fucking business. Besides, the press being the press, they would find ways to drag the other Avengers, his teammates, into the spotlight too.

 

It wasn’t shame, Tony knew that. Tony wasn’t sure he was actually capable of shame anymore. At least not about something like this. While taking a moment to wash his face, Tony figured it out. He was angry because he’d run away. Well, had Loki magic them away. But still. Running just made you look scared, or guilty. Neither of which were accurate. He was confident of that much. 

 

Past that, he wasn’t sure what all he felt. He should have seen this coming, nothing about it should have been a surprise. He wasn’t going to get anywhere just moping in the bedroom though, and decided to track down Loki and apologize for...something. He’d figure out exactly what he was apologizing for on the way.

 

Except that when he stepped out of his room, instead of seeing Loki, he was greeted by Bucky and a man he didn’t recognize; a burn victim, if he’d had to guess. “Bucky?” He paused, eyeing the stranger, “Person? How’d you even get up here?”

 

“JARVIS let us up.” Bucky had his hands in his pockets, looking very pleased with himself. “You’re wanted down on the 49th floor.”

 

Very rarely did good things happen when he was told that. Floors 40-50 were set as “common areas” for the team to unwind and relax. However, almost every time he’d been told he was  _ wanted _ on one of those floors, it meant a fight was breaking out. Which, honestly, happened far too often. But that was probably the price you paid when you had a group like them living together. People don’t become crime-fighting superheroes without the pride and ego to back that up. “What’s happening down there?”

 

The scarred man grinned. “Dunno. Webs just told us to come find you.”

 

“Webs? Wait.” Tony’s eyes narrowed. “Deadpool?”

 

Deadpool thrust his hand out for Tony to shake, “Wilson, comma Wade.”

 

Tony shook his hand, “Wade Wilson, huh? That your real name?”

 

“For you it could be.”

 

Tony frowned as Deadpool--Wade?--shifted his grip started leading him towards the elevator by the wrist. “What does that even mean?”

 

“It’s his name.” Bucky confirmed, falling into step beside him. “At least it is according to Pete.” Tony glanced between the two as they waited in the elevator. For all of their claims of having no idea what was going on, Barnes looked entertained, and Wade hadn’t stopped grinning. The most he’d been able to get was the assurance that there wasn’t a fight happening downstairs. 

 

“Well, there wasn’t a fight going on when he left. Who knows, now? Loki looked pretty agitated.”

 

Tony shifted uncomfortably. “Nah, Loki wouldn’t start shit in front of Pete.” Bucky said. “And Thor wouldn’t let Stevie start anything, so I’m sure it’s all fine.”

 

“Speaking of fine!” Dead--Wade. Did he want to be called Wade? Did he care? Wade moved to stand even closer to Tony, “Are you alright?”

 

“Why wouldn’t I be alright?”

 

Tony caught Wade and Bucky sharing a glance. “Avoid the internet for today.” Wade suggested.

 

“What? Why?” When neither of the other men spoke up, Tony sighed. “JARVIS? What’s happening?”

 

“I’m afraid I’ve been sworn to secrecy, Sir.”

 

Tony glared at the elevator door. “Try that again, HAL. Why should I avoid the internet?” Tony was pretty sure he knew. “Does it have to do with the Park? And who the hell swore you to secrecy? I  _ programmed  _ you.”

 

“Ms. Potts and Captain Rogers ordered me to keep mum until tomorrow morning, Sir. Mr. Parker also requested my cooperation.”

 

Tony grabbed his phone from his pocket, but Bucky was faster. “You’ll get it back tomorrow, Tony. Calm down.”

 

As soon as the elevator doors opened, Tony stalked out. Fuck all of them, then.  _ Something _ was going on, and he was being kept in the dark. Worse, they wouldn’t even tell him  _ why _ he was being kept in the dark about it.

 

The main room on the 49th floor had been turned into something of a makeshift theater. A large television was mounted on one wall, and various couches and chairs had been dragged from their intended places to form a semi-circle around it. On the coffee table that sat closest to the television were two brightly wrapped boxes; one was nearly a meter long, the other looked like it might hold a ream of printer paper.

 

Peter was on one of the couches, looking like he might actually burst from excitement. Natasha was draped over an armchair, reading--at least it looked like she was reading, it was honestly hard to tell with her. Bruce was sitting in an armchair, drinking tea, and keeping an eye on everyone else in the room. Steve was on the other end of the couch that Peter had claimed, looking decidedly uncomfortable, and regularly glancing towards the back of the room where Loki and Thor were discussing...something.

 

Tony couldn’t understand a word that Loki was saying, although he was pretty sure he recognized at least a few words, even if he couldn’t guess at the meaning. It sounded like Thor was speaking English, but he was doing so so quietly that Tony could only catch one word out of ten. 

 

Loki  _ did  _ look agitated. Tony broke away from Bucky and Wade to go talk to him. He held up one finger when Peter started to greet him. “Sorry to interrupt. Can we talk for a second, Loki?”

 

When Thor saw him, he started beaming. Great. There were probably at least two  _ somethings _ happening. He was going to get to the bottom of at least one of them today, damn it. Loki nodded, breaking off whatever it was he’d been talking to Thor about, and the two retreated to a far corner, Tony trying to ignore that the others were  _ trying _ to look uninterested.

 

“First, real quick. Why was Thor speaking English when you weren’t?”

 

Loki looked confused for less than a second before laughing. “He wasn’t.” At least now Loki looked amused rather than upset. “Asgardians have this thing, AllSpeak. Odin created it. It lets them--us--communicate without a language barrier. Anything Thor says will be understood by others in their native language.”

 

Tony blinked. “Wait...That...Ok, actually that makes some sense. Is that what was going on in Germany?”

 

Loki nodded, “It was.”

 

“That sounds really useful,” Tony paused. “So why can’t I understand you, sometimes?”

 

“Because having everyone understand me all of the time was inconvenient. So I changed it.”

 

“The AllSpeak?”

 

Loki nodded. “Well, I broke it. And rebuilt it, for my own purposes.”

 

“Are you ever actually speaking English?”

 

Loki hummed. “Sometimes. I’m not fluent.”

 

“How the fuck are you not fluent in English? You understand me just fine.”

 

“The AllSpeak works both ways. And do you know how many languages you Midgardians have? Why would I bother to learn all of them?”

 

Tony shook his head. “Fine. I’m coming back to that.” He leaned against the wall. “And I’m going to teach you English.”

 

Loki rolled his eyes, but didn’t argue. “This isn’t what you wanted to talk about.”

 

“Nope.” Tony resisted the urge to cross his arms over his chest. “I’m sorry.”

 

“What?”

 

“I’m sorry.” Tony repeated.

 

“Why are you sorry?”

 

Well, that was fair. Of course Loki would want a proper apology. “Because I--”

 

Loki held up a hand, stopping him. “You misunderstand, Stark. I mean, why do you think you owe me an apology?”

 

Tony just stared at him. “You were pissed.”

 

“I was.”

 

“At me.”

 

“No.” Loki leaned against the wall, pressing their shoulders together. “I was angry at the interruption. At seeing you so distressed by it. At that herd of pillocks thinking they had any right to--”

 

“Are you angry  _ for  _ me?”

 

Loki huffed. “Of course. Why would I be angry _ at  _ you?”

 

“Because I wanted to run away?”

 

Loki scoffed. “I wanted to leave too. The only ones who would have benefited from us staying were those camera wielding parasites.” Something across the room caught Loki’s eyes. “Who’s the man next to Peter? They’re grinning at us like fools.”

 

“That’s your buddy, Deadpool. Or, Wade, today, I guess.” Tony waved at the two, noting that Thor had found his way to the small gathering and was talking animatedly with Bruce. “What did Peter want, anyway?”

 

Loki shrugged. “He just asked for me to come down here. Everyone else was already here. Although Bucky and, Wade, you said? They left right as I got here.”

 

“Ah. They came and got me.” Peter was gesturing for the two of them to come back over. Tony pushed off from the wall, returning to the gathering of choice Avengers. “Alright, Peter, what’s up?”

 

“Finally!” Peter jumped up from the couch and aimed one of his web shooters at the wall.

 

“Don’t even think about it.” Tony warned. “Do you really plan on making U figure out a way to clean webbing off of one of these walls?”

 

Peter deflated slightly. “Fine.” He shoved the shooter into his pocket, and grabbed the smaller of the two packages and handed it over to Loki. “Happy Anniversary!”

 

“Pardon?” Loki sounded as confused as he looked.

 

“It’s been a year since you two got together!” Peter quickly corrected himself, “Well, I mean, it’s been a year since any of us found out about it, at least. I have no idea when you actually started--”

 

“A year?” Tony asked, rolling the timeline back in his head. It was late May now, so...yeah, that was probably close. 

 

Loki looked down at the package in his hands, “And this is?”

 

“It’s a gift.” Peter frowned slightly. 

 

“Not that we’re not grateful, Peter. But usually it’s not other people giving the couple gifts in this situation.”

 

Natasha snorted. “Like either one of you was going to think to do anything for it.”

 

Loki busied himself carefully unwrapping the gift. “As Stark said, we’re grateful.” He turned the item over in his hands. “But also, what is this?”

 

“It’s a digital picture frame. DP suggested it. There’s a button on the top that turns it on.”

 

Tony leaned over for a better look as Loki turned it on. It played a slideshow of candid photographs of the two of them, mostly from around The Tower. “Who even took these?”

 

“I did.” Peter grinned. 

 

“With the camera you’re definitely not supposed to use around here?” Tony glanced around at the group. Bruce, Bucky and Natasha looked amused. Thor, Wade, and Peter looked fucking over the moon. Steve still looked like he’d rather be somewhere else, so Tony guessed that he was there because Bucky had dragged him. Steve didn’t like Loki, and he made no show of hiding it. Most of the time Tony was pretty sure Steve didn’t like him either. 

 

“My apologies. If I had known that this was an occasion for gift-giving, I wouldn’t have come empty-handed,” Thor said, looking abashed.

 

“Don’t worry about it, Thor. It’s really not.” Tony eyed the larger package. “So, what’s that one then?”

 

Wade giggled and it filled Tony with a vague sense of dread. “That’s a gift for later! When there aren’t children present.” The sense of dread stopped feeling vague.

 

“I’m not a child.” Peter griped, gently punching Wade in the shoulder. “I’m 17, that’s an adult.”

 

“If you have to make an argument like that, you’re not an adult,” Steve chided.

 

“Right,” Bucky drawled, “says the guy who kept trying to enlist at 16.”

 

Rogers crossed his arms, “That was different.”

 

“Like hell.”

 

“So.” Tony said, breaking apart the argument before it could start. “Are we done with the awkward meeting “celebrating” our anniversary.”

 

“Fuck no.” Natasha smirked as she rose from the chair. “There’s cake. And booze. None for you,” she added, pointing at Peter as she walked by. 

 

Tony looked over at Loki, grinning. “God of recreation, right? You up for some cake and booze?” 

 

Loki returned the grin. “Always.”

 

* * *

  
  


“So, what do you think it is?” Tony asked, dropping the box onto their breakfast table.

 

“I’m still not sure I understand why we were celebrating.” Loki said, unwrapping the box.

 

“Us being together a year. Give or take.”

 

“No, I understand that much. I don’t understand the why.”

 

Tony stood across the table, trying to figure out what part Loki was struggling with. “I mean, it’s not usually a group thing,” he tried. “Just the couple doing something together.”

 

Loki peeled the paper away from the nondescript box. “What’s the importance of a year?”

 

Tony paused. “Humans only get about 80 of them. And we’re all sorts of fickle and shit, so most relationships last closer to weeks or months.” Loki had set on the tape that held the box closed, a slight frown crossing his features. “It’s like birthdays,” Tony continued, “compared to Asgardians, we don’t have all that many. So humans like to celebrate the time we do have.”

 

“I didn’t realize a year had passed. Nor the significance of it.” His fingers drummed against the ready-to-open box. “I’ll try to pay better attention to what humans place importance on in the future.”

 

Tony snorted. “Don’t worry about it. If I’d thought about it, I’d have realized how long it’d been, but,” he paused, wanting to phrase this carefully, “it’s not that I don’t care, which is what I was about to say. Because I do care. But not like Peter does, I guess? There are more important things to focus on with our relationship, than how long we’ve been fucking.” Tony glanced down at the box. “So, what’s the over-under on this being a weapon?”

 

Loki flipped the box open, and they were met with a mess of newspaper. “70/30?” 

 

Tony reached across and pulled the newspaper out of the way. Once the initial shock wore off, he doubled over laughing. “Well, it  _ could _ be a weapon.” The box held a ridiculously large vibrant yellow dildo. “Is that a horse dick?” He gasped.

 

He was pretty sure he caught Loki mouthing, “What the fuck?” as he pulled the dildo from the box. “This is definitely a weapon.”

 

“Oh, good. There’s a card.” Tony pulled the card out of the box.

 

_ You have no idea how hard this was to find. It’s been out of production since 2013. His name is Thor. Have fun! -DP _

 

There was no way in Hell Tony was going to let Loki see the card. “Fucking Hell, Deadpool.”

 

“What’s it say?”

 

“Have fun. And I guess it’s some sort of collector’s item.” Tony shoved the card into his pocket.

 

Loki grinned up at him. “What should we do with it?”

 

Tony stared at the toy. “Beat Wade with it? I don’t know.”

 

“You don’t want to give it a try?”

 

“Sure as fuck don’t,” Tony wadded up the newspaper to be thrown with the rest of the recycling. “That’s not going anywhere near  _ any _ of my orifices.”

 

Loki let out a considering hum. “What about one of mine?”

 

Tony sighed, trying to guess how serious Loki was being. “Fuck it. Fine. I’ll think about it. Using it on  _ you _ . I’m serious when I say that’s not going anywhere near me.” He pointed at Loki’s chest warningly as he took a few steps backwards before turning and retreating to the bedroom. When his clothes disappeared between one step and the next, he quickly turned back to look at Loki, who was following him--empty handed.

 

“I’m not going to attack you with a horse dick, Stark.”

 

Tony let out a hum of distrust. “You’d better not.”

 

Loki stepped in close and wrapped his arms around Tony, pulling him back and pressing a kiss to the back of his head. “I think we should keep celebrating.”

 

Tony traced his fingers over Loki’s arms, “Alright. What do you have in mind?”

 

Loki reached up and gave Tony’s nipple a harsh pinch, earning him a yelp. “Still want to let me pierce you?”

 

Tony might have glared at him if he had been able to turn around. Instead he just let out a huff. “All the piercing stuff is downstairs.”

 

“I’ll go grab it.”

 

“You have to put your clothes back on.”

 

Loki let him go. “30 seconds. No one’s going to see me.”

 

“What? No, it’s a safety--” But Loki had already disappeared. It was actually less than 30 seconds before Loki reappeared, now holding a small tray. “Damn it, Loki. I don’t care if you want to parade around with your cock out, but it’s a safety issue walking around a lab naked.” Loki just gave him a  _ look _ and Tony knew he wasn’t getting an apology out of it. At least he knew that Loki wasn’t likely to lie and apologize unless he actually meant it.

 

Loki walked into the center of the room, looking over at Tony expectantly. “How do you want to do this?”

 

Tony shrugged, “You’re the man with the needles. We’ll do this however you’d like.”

 

“No we won’t.” Loki said, setting the tray at the end of the bed and beckoning for Tony to come over. “You don’t want to do this  _ how I’d like _ .”

 

“That just sounds like a challenge,” Tony grinned as he hopped onto the edge of the bed. “Why don’t you tell me what you’d like to do, and I’ll tell you if it’s something I want to try or not.”

 

“What I’d like to do,” Loki started as he ran alcohol wipes over Tony’s chest, “is hold you down. Maybe even tie you up, if you move around too much.” So far Tony wasn’t hearing anything he had any issues with, but Loki had gone quiet after marking him with the skin marker.

 

“Loki?” Tony asked gently.

 

Loki was holding the package with the needle, his expression familiar to Tony. It was the same expression that had crossed his face before, when Tony had been the one holding the needle. “Nevermind.” He said quietly. “I don’t want to hold you down.”

 

“Alright.” Loki was anxious, that much was obvious. But there was something else going on, and Tony couldn’t put his finger on it.

 

“You asked me once, if I was afraid of needles.” Tony felt himself go cold. Because  _ holy fuck _ if he’d managed to accidentally throw Loki into traumatic memories  _ twice _ , he was probably the worst boyfriend ever. “I said I wasn’t.” Loki met his eyes. “And I’m not. In general. I hadn’t really thought about…” he trailed off. “Scoot back.” Tony did as he was asked, making room so that Loki could straddle his legs. This was definitely not an ideal position for this, but he wasn’t about to make a fuss. It would probably be fine. And if it wasn’t, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t take the piercings out and try again another time. “Brok and Sindri, the dwarves I mentioned. They didn’t use a needle, so it doesn’t make any sense that they should bother me.”

 

“What did they use?” He asked before he could stop himself.

 

“An awl.” 

 

“How the fuck do you use an--ow, fuck.” He had been preoccupied enough that he was surprised when the needle punched through his skin. The initial stabbing pain disappeared quickly, leaving behind a sharp ache. Tony decided the  _ how _ didn’t matter all that much, “So it’s not the needle itself? It’s the stabbing metal through skin?”

 

Loki let out a hum as he threaded the barbell through the hole he’d created. “This isn’t actually so bad.” He smiled at him before dipping his head down and licking at the drops of blood. Tony let out a half-hearted noise of distress. He could (probably) still get infections, after all. “But I realized that idea of doing it while holding you down… that bothered me.”

 

Of course, now Tony had a question and he had to be  _ sure _ . “Holding me down in general, though...that’s still alright?”

 

“Mmhmm.”

 

“What about using a knife while holding me do--Christ. How are you so fast?” 

 

Loki laughed, replacing the needle with the steel piercing. “You’re just easy to distract.” Loki shoved him down onto the bed and crawled over him, pinning Tony’s arms above his head with one hand. “I take it you’d be upset if I quit wanting to immobilize you and have my way with you?”

 

Tony grinned up at him. “I’d be fucking devastated.” He shifted, trying to figure out how much movement Loki was allowing him--basically none, it turned out. 

 

Loki’s smirk was the only warning Tony got before he reached up and flicked his thumb against his new piercing. Tony let out a whine when he did it again. “That hurt?”

 

“Of course it hurts,” he complained.

 

“Want me to stop?” Tony did his best to glare at him. He didn’t really want Loki to do it again, but he also didn’t want to actually tell him to stop either. He huffed out a long breath trying to decide how to answer. “Don’t worry about it, Stark. I have more interesting things in mind.” Loki glanced up at Tony’s wrists. “If I let go, can you keep your arms there by yourself?”

 

Tony looked up, which was actually useless since he couldn’t actually see his own arms from that angle. “I can try,” he replied honestly. “What’re you going to be doing to the rest of me?”

 

Loki released his arms and reached off to the side. Tony flexed his fingers and rearranged slightly so that his arms were at a more comfortable position, or at least one that he was pretty sure he could hold for a while. Loki held up a familiar black leather case into Tony’s view. “Thoughts?”

 

“When did you even grab those?”

 

“When I went downstairs.”

 

Tony frowned slightly. “Those weren’t downstairs.”

 

Loki only shrugged, as if that fact wasn’t important. “Is that a no?”

 

“Did you grab the surgical lube when you grabbed the sounds?”

 

“Of course.”

 

He would be lying if he said that the idea didn’t make him anxious. But Loki had definitely enjoyed it, and he was more than a little bit curious about what it would actually  _ feel _ like. “Alright, let’s give it a go.”

 

When he wanted to be, Loki could be Goddamn methodical. The almost clinical way Loki stroked him to hardness probably should have been weird but it  _ wasn’t _ . That was just going to have to be something Tony tried to figure out later, since Loki started shifting around--retrieving a sound, most likely. He glanced down in time to see the thin metal rod in Loki’s hand. He let his head fall back onto the bed and clenched his eyes shut. Better to  _ not _ look at the thing that way about to get pressed into his dick. Yep. 

 

He jumped slightly at the feel of Loki’s hand on his hip. “Breathe, Tony.” He distantly wondered if they should be concerned by how often they were having to remind each other of such a simple fact.

 

“You called me Tony.”

 

“I do that.” Loki sounded amused.

 

“Not often,” Tony pointed out. Loki didn’t verbally respond, which wasn’t very useful since Tony was quite happy keeping his eyes closed. Doubly so when he felt the cold sound touch the tip of his dick. He dug his fingernails into the palms of his hands, because there was no other way he was going to be able to keep still.

 

“ _ Stark _ , you’re freaking out and I haven’t actually done anything, yet.”

 

“Don’t wait for my permission. Just fucking...do it. This is fucking scar-” He was cut off by his breath escaping him as Loki guided the sound in. And holy fuck, that was  _ weird _ . There was pressure, and burning, and a sensation of being stretched open, but mostly it was just fucking weird. 

 

“Ok, you’re going to have to try to relax at least a little bit,” Loki chastised him as he stopped the sound’s descent. “Otherwise I’m going to wind up actually hurting you.”

 

Tony opened his mouth to respond, but all that came out was a pathetic whining sound. After a moment he tried again, “Not sure how.”

 

“To relax?”

 

“It’s kind of hard to relax when there’s a metal spike stretching my dick open.”

 

A long silence followed his statement, and Tony was tempted to open his eyes to get some idea of what Loki was thinking. Finally he heard a quiet, “Alright then,” and Loki slowly pulled the sound back out. And hell, that was also weird as fuck, and wholly unpleasant. There were more sounds of movement, and just as Tony’s curiosity was about to win out, he felt Loki crawl up the bed and settle down next to him, draping an arm over his abdomen.

 

Tony opened his eyes and glanced over. “Um? What’s happening.”

 

“We’re cuddling.”

 

Tony snorted. “No, I mean. I didn’t say stop. Or use my safeword. So…”

 

“You didn’t have to.” Loki nudged him until Tony rolled over onto his side so that they could shift until Tony’s back was pressed against Loki’s chest. “You weren’t enjoying it, so we stopped.”

 

Tony frowned. “You wanted to do it.”

 

“Not important.”

 

“And you’re still hard.”

 

“Also not important.” 

 

Tony reached over so that he could twine their fingers together. “I’m sorry.”

 

“You didn’t do anything to apologize for.”

 

“You were really looking forward to this.”

 

Loki let out a long sigh. “How are you struggling with the fact that you not enjoying something makes it hard for me to enjoy it.”

 

Tony turned over until they were face to face. This felt like a face-to-face sort of conversation. “We do plenty of things that I don’t necessarily enjoy.”

 

Loki took advantage of the position and kissed him. “That’s different.”

 

“How?” At Loki’s annoyed expression he continued, “I’m not just being contrary. I don’t understand what made this different.”

 

“Usually when we’re doing something that you “don’t enjoy”, you still get off on the fact that I’m the one doing it. Or that you’re letting me. That’s how you phrased it before, right?”

 

Tony nodded, that was pretty much how he’d explained it. “Ok, but I was also  _ letting you _ sound me.”

 

Loki shook his head. “You were suffering through it. Not the same thing.” 

 

Tony didn’t like it, but he couldn’t ignore the accuracy of Loki’s statement either. Usually when they were doing things, even when it hurt--especially when it hurt, if he was being honest with himself--there was a thrill to it. And the knowledge that Loki was doing it, hurting him, maybe, but that he’d keep him safe. That he wouldn’t push him further than--oh. “Fuck,” Tony breathed. “I love you.”

 

“So you’ve said.” Loki looked equal parts amused and fond.

 

Tony sat up and ran his hand through his hair. “No, I mean. I love you.” He stared down at Loki, trying to figure out how to explain that this feeling was  _ different _ and  _ more _ and more than a little bit overwhelming. “I think I might be in love with you.”

 

Loki sat up, the look of confusion quickly being replaced by the expression that Tony had come to recognize as the one he used when he didn’t want others to know what he was feeling. That was probably fine. At least he’d been honest. And if Loki didn’t feel the same, that was fine too. And if Loki decided that humans were overly emotional and to quick to form attachments...at least they’d had a really fun year.

 

“Do you know, Stark, that you have a really bad habit of jumping to the worst possible conclusions.”

 

Tony froze. “I didn’t say anything.”

 

“You didn’t have too. You’re very expressive when you’re panicking.”

 

Tony managed to glare at him. “Do you know, Loki, that it’s considered a dick move to make fun of someone after they admit to loving you.”

 

“Lay back down and quit getting yourself worked up.” Loki pulled him until they were both laying back down on the bed. He wrapped his arms around him, leaving Tony unable to wiggle free. “I love you, too. I’ve never put much thought into the difference between loving someone and being  _ in love _ with them, but I know that I care for you. I worry about your wellbeing. I can imagine myself telling you things. Things I don’t share. Things I don’t talk about. Don’t think about. One day I might even tell you everything.”

 

Tony felt a warm sort of anxiety flutter in his stomach. Loki’s words were pretty overwhelming, too. “Do you want to celebrate our anniversary?”

 

“Are you changing the subject?”

 

“I’m continuing the subject.”

 

“Didn’t we celebrate earlier?”

 

“Yeah, but like… you and me. Have dinner or something?”

 

“We often eat dinner together.”

 

Tony huffed out an exasperated sigh. “Right. But I mean, do you want to go out. Together. And have dinner.”

 

Loki pressed a kiss to his back, and smiled against him. “You want to brave the fustilarians again?”

 

“I don’t think that’s a word. But yes.”

 

“It is a word. Where would you want to go?”

 

“Sushi. Or Italian, maybe. What’s it mean?”

 

“I like sushi. It’s a term for someone who insists on wasting time on useless endeavors.”

 

Tony pressed himself closer to Loki. “Ok, then. Sushi it is. We’ll just avoid the fustilarians.”

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 2 will be a coda of sorts to this. Tony's turn to have bits of metal stuck in him. 
> 
> You can follow me on tumblr, [@Haarii-the-quilava](https://haarii-the-quilava.tumblr.com/) if that’s your thing! :D


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